What Will It Mean For Dothan: China Manufacturing Symposium

Officials say having the symposium come to Dothan gives them some bragging rights.

They say the amount of visitors alone is enough to make a significant economic boost.

The Circle City will be hosting one of the biggest symposiums the city has ever seen this March and it will bring plenty of business to Dothan.

"We have 14 hotels booked and 16 motor coaches because they will have to be transported while they're here going to and from the hotels to the civic center and the dinner venues and the airport back and forth, " says Bob Hendrix, Executive Director of the Dothan Area Convention & Visitors Bureau.

"It's one of our many tools in our economic development efforts, " says Mark Culver, Chairman of the Houston County Commission.

An effort that's giving the Wiregrass a chance to showcase what it's made of.

"The Chinese Symposium is our opportunity to present to businesses in china what a great community we have, " says Culver.

"This is just probably the biggest thing to ever come to Dothan. We had President Reagan back in the 70's but from an economic development stand point this is huge, " says Hendrix.

Huge enough to bring some hefty dollar signs to Dothan.

"You'll have 400 to 500 people in town that aren't normally here, they'll be spending money so it will certainly generate some tax revenue, " says Culver.

"Just of the people being here and staying here probably close to a million dollars of economic impact and then hopefully we can maybe land two or three of these chinese companies that would stay here and that would mean a lot of jobs, " says Hendrix.

And the agenda is clear...Jobs creation is at the top of the list.

"We're looking at this long term. We're looking for companies to come, invest money in our community and most importantly hire our citizens. We spend everyday, looking for some way to bring more jobs and better jobs to our community. The mayor and i have talked many times, it's the number one thing we work on together. His could really create a lot of opportunity for our citizens and that's what we're trying to do, " says Culver.

"We beat out other cities like Charlotte, New York and Washington DC, to host this and that is really a feather in our cap for the city of Dothan and the whole Wiregrass area, " says Hendrix.

The Manufacturing Symposium will be March 26th through the 28th.

Officials are still hosting the delegation Novermber 11th to meet for logistic purposes.

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